The HBO show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” took on the issue of standardized tests on Sunday, criticizing the pressure it creates for students, teachers and administrators. Oliver made no secret of where he stood, pointing out that some test booklets include instructions on what a teacher should do if an anxious student vomits...

A few hours on a Saturday afternoon at a Special Olympics event over 30 years ago changed the course of Teri Hayden’s life, and now it looks as if those few hours have changed the lives of hundreds of disabled student athletes at LA Unified. After several years of pitches and proposals from Hayden —...

Make it not one, but two extraordinarily unenthusiastic endorsements from a major Los Angeles newspaper for LA Unified board President Richard Vladovic. Following the Los Angeles Times tepid endorsement of Vladovic over his challenger, Lydia Gutierrez, the Los Angeles Daily News today also picked Vladovic over Gutierrez with an equally unenthusiastic thumbs up. Vladovic has a...

The release of an audit of a charter school co-founded by school board candidate Ref Rodriguez is heating up the waters of the already boiling LA Unified District 5 school board race. One day after reports emerged that a school board member, Monica Garcia, tried to delay the release of the audit, conducted by the district’s Office...

*UPDATED Among the 609 LA Unified employees who received layoff notices last month were hundreds of adult eduction teachers. But the LA teachers union, UTLA, still has a thing to two to say about it. Just two days after protesting the cuts, UTLA leaders today held a press conference this morning outside of the East LA Skills...

Harris Newmark High School near downtown LA is celebrating today after being named a Model Continuation High School by the California Department of Education. The event scheduled for 11:30 included a keynote address from LA Unified school board member Monica Garcia. A total of 29 schools received the honor from the state this year, and Harris Newmark...

A California judge has denied a request for state intervention at six schools for students’ being assigned open classes that lack academic value. The same judge had ordered the state to intervene at LA Unified’s Jefferson High School in October over the same issue and as part of the same lawsuit. Bay Area Superior Court Judge...

The LA teachers union, UTLA, released documents today that it says proves the administration of Alliance College-Ready Public Schools has been illegally blocking a unionization attempt by its teachers. Alliance, in turn, acknowledged the documents were real and said that they prove nothing. The documents outline a clear strategy by the administration to win the hearts...

The issue of transgender students and the restrooms they use has been all over the news lately, both in California and elsewhere. The Nevada Assembly this week rejected a bill that would have required students to use restrooms corresponding to their biological sex. The so-called “bathroom bill” had been heavily criticized by transgender rights advocates,...